Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 664, 28 March 1952, Page 24

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

LAN WHITE, Australian tadio actor heard in many serials broadcast by New Zealand stations, can’t recall when he first. became interested in the theatre and radio, but thinks it was when he won a

drama prize at school. He went into radio through 2GB Sydney when he was 17 years old, and now he’s 26, but he has already discovered, he says, that to be a success in radio a man "must have faith in himself and his work, study the

work of the really _&teat actors as often as possible, and above all, acquire that humility which is essential to success." When next you listen to "Night Beat’ (the tour ZB stations) take note of the cynical character with the heart of gold, Randy Stone, and compare him with Godowski in "Dossier on Dumetrius" (2ZA,,. 2XG and 2XN), You might detect a slight resemblance, tor both these parts are played by Alan White. He’s also Dr. John Cabot in "Dr. Paul" (the four | 2B stations), Bill Lorimer in "Nurse White" (2ZA and 1XH), Sean O’Farrell in "January’s Daughter" (1ZB) and Johnny Nolan the father in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (2XN). White, who -has played in drama, comedy, vaudeville and films, has a profound admiration for the hard-working people in vaudeville, whose timing, he says, can be an object lesson to any actor.

NOBODY KNEW

ae a %* Nor long ago in a 2ZB quiz session entrants were asked what the initials P.E.N. stood for. Nobody knew until the Quizmaster explained that

they meant Poets, Playwrights,' Editors, Essayists and Novelists — and

all writers of standing in » the recognised categories of literature. The P.E.N. was founded in 1921 and is a world association of writers.

editors and _ translatots. Its aim is to promote and main- ° tain friendship and intellectual co-oper-ation between men of letters in all countries and in the interests of literature, freedom of expression and international goodwill. It is not concerned

with State or party politics. President of the New Zealand Centre is Stuart Perry, Wellington City Librarian, who is often heard in NZBS book review sessions. And, by the way, the pronunciation is P.E.N.-not Pen. & se x

COTTAGE IN KENT

~~ rw = NOTHING succeeds like suspense. | Radio listeners may remember the excitement in 1948 when contestants in ‘the "Miss New Zealand Quest" as-

sembled in the Wellington Town Hall to hear _ the name ot the winner an-

nounced, It was, of course, Mary Wootton. Iris Crooke, of Wellington, one of the panel of judges, whose task it was to make the announcement

from the stage, chatted about this, that and the next thing with an impish sense of humour, withholding the vital information until the last possible moment. Formerly Director-General of the New Zealand Red Cross V.A.D.’s, Iris Crooke, M.B.E., represented the New: Zealand Red Cross at the International Conference held in Stockholm in 1949. Throughout last year she was a member of the Wellington Women’s Radio Discussion panel, usually taking questions that gave scope for imagination and _humour in reply, and she has also been heard in NZBS Book Review sessions. In her spare time Iris Crapke helps at the Wellington City Mission and is a member of the committee of Corso. She will leave for England later this year, but listeners to 2YA will hear her again on April 22 when she will take part in a new series to be broadcast in the "Women’s Session" (starting on April 1) called "Fancy Free." Miss Crooke intends to settle down "in a picture book

cottage" somewhere in Kent. "Of course, the picture book part of it," she told me the other day, "might be just wishful thinking." ole ee ~

7 _- EON DE MAUNY, the well-known Wellington musician, who left New ‘Zealand for London in December, 1950, to retire, died in Paddington Hospital

on March 7, after a_ short illness. Writing to Elsie Lloyd, of 2ZB, Erik

de Mauny says that his father’s health had been failing. for some time and he felt. the English winter a severe trial. Mr. de Mauny came to New Zealand from England about 1923. A teacher of the violin, he founded in 1928 the old Wellington Symphony Orchestra,

which was in existence for 12 years, and from 1932 he was conductor of the 2YA Concert Orchestra. For eight years. he worked with the Regional Council for Adult Education, training young players for performing in orchestras, and when the National Orchestra of the NZBS was formed in 1946, he became its Musical Editor.